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Magneto-Optical Stern-Gerlach Effect in Atomic Ensemble

Quantum Physics 2009-11-13 v3

Abstract

We study the birefringence of the quantized polarized light in a magneto-optically manipulated atomic ensemble as a generalized Stern-Gerlach Effect of light. To explain this engineered birefringence microscopically, we derive an effective Shr\"odinger equation for the spatial motion of two orthogonally polarized components, which behave as a spin with an effective magnetic moment leading to a Stern-Gerlach split in an nonuniform magnetic field. We show that electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) mechanism can enhance the magneto-optical Stern-Gerlach effect of light in the presence of a control field with a transverse spatial profile and a inhomogeneous magnetic field.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0802.0333,
  title  = {Magneto-Optical Stern-Gerlach Effect in Atomic Ensemble},
  author = {Yu Guo and Lan Zhou and Le-Man Kuang and C. P. Sun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.0333},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

7 pages, 5 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:09:09.805Z